His name gives 76 results on a wikileaks search. A Wikileaks cable dated 4 September 2008released by Wikileaks reveals that US Ambassador to India met with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on 2 September 2008 wherein the name of would be chief of UIDAI, Nileakni figured for a Sub-group of US-India CEO Forum for educational collaboration which was to provide a report after the elections. Notably, this cable from New Delhi was sent to Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Security Council, Secretary of Defense among others. Notably, Nileakni was one of the eight members of National Knowledge Commission (NKC) headed by Sam Pitroda who advocates identification and tagging of every object in India through his Public Information Infrastructure initiative.

Prior to this a cable dated April 20, 2006 refers to visit by US Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings. During the first India stop on what they billed as their “The World Is Flat Tour,” Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and CODEL Enzi, consisting of Senator Michael Enzi (R-Wyoming), Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee), and Senator Johnny Isakson (R- Georgia), visited the city of Bangalore, India’s high tech capital. They met with business leaders for a focused discussion of business activity in India and its implications for education from both a U.S. and Indian perspective, visited General Electric’s John F. Welch Technology Center for a view of cutting edge scientific research being conducted in India, and toured the expansive campus of Infosys, India’s software leader. Following their stop at GE, Secretary Spellings and CODEL Enzi made an extended visit to Infosys Technologies Ltd., one of India’s largest and most successful consulting and IT service companies. Infosys was one of the pioneers in strategic offshore outsourcing of software services. The delegation was hosted by N.R. Narayana Murthy, Infosys Chairman of the Board and Chief Mentor. Also joining the delegation at lunch was Infosys CEO Nandam Nilekani, the person who, as Secretary Spellings noted, author Thomas Friedman credits with coining the phrase “the world is flat.”

US Embassy’s cable for the week of 29th June to 2 July 2009 notes that the UID “project is expected to cost about Rs1,500 billion ($31.5 billion),and technological challenges in creating tamper-proof smart cards capable of handling Indian conditions are expected. According to press reports, the GoI may exclude private companies from participating due to the large amount of confidential information involved in the program. The public sector company Bharat Electronics Ltd has already issued over 120,000 smart cards under a GoI pilot project to establish a multipurpose national identity card, and is likely to be one of the key players.” It is noteworthy that eventually Indian government did not exclude private companies. With regard to the National Smart Card Identification System, the wikileaked cables reveal that “Joint Secretary (Telecom) JS Deepak told Econoffs that the first meeting between Additional Secretary of Department of Telecom Subodh Kumar, Nandan Nilekani, chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and founder of Infosys, and Indian telecom service providers was held on 24th September to discuss the roll-out of the unique identification (UID) program. Earlier this year, the GoI set up the UIDAI to implement a Unique Identification card project, which will own the database of residents along with their biometric information….Joint Secretary Deepak noted that despite the inherent challenges posed by the massive scale of this program, the introduction of UID will transform the way Indians do business in the areas of Government-to-Citizen interaction. He said the ID would be useful for a multitude of purposes, including elections, taxation, national security, and banking. Deepak, a former USAID employee responsible for global social programs, was enthusiastic about the UID’s potential to greatly reduce ‘leakage’ in government subsidies and benefit payments, including the NREGA program, and for its ability to also transform provision of education and healthcare.” Econoffs refers to US Embassy’s Economic Office. This communication was sent from New Delhi as part of its report for week of 21st to 24 September 2009. It is noteworthy that Deepak’s credential as former employee of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been mentioned. Earlier, Bolivia and Russia have expelled USAID from their countries.

Facilitator of Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP)’s fund-based accounting system (FBAS) facilitated as CEO, Infosys, who also headed Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF) through a trust called Aadhar Trust since 1999.

Founder, Adhar Trust.

The Unique Identification Number project of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was renamed ‘AADHAAR‘ (foundation) as part of efforts to reach out to the common man. Nilekani said “UID itself is very confusing. Some people call it DUI, somebody calls it IUD and so forth. So it was getting a little difficult to explain all this various permutations, combinations of this acronym”. “Therefore, we wanted a name that could effectively communicate its transformational potential and its promise to residents. Something that had a national appeal that could be recognised across the country, could resonate in different languages and easy to remember and speak,” he said on 26 April, 2010. “The people can connect with both of these instantly,” said Atul Sudhakarrao Pande, whose design was picked from among 2,000 entries. The UIDAI rewarded him with a cheque for Rs.1 lakh. The brand name and logo were unveiled by Dhaneshwar Ram, a man from a rural background who was the chief guest at the function. He explained the difficulties he faced in establishing his identity in his village in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, even to procure a certificate of residency in the absence of any proof. Ram hoped the present exercise would come to the rescue of millions like him.

The UIDAI’s first public meeting with its partners was also attended by the secretary of the Department of Information Technology, R. Chandra Shekhar, and UIDAI director-general Ram Sewak Sharma.

Head of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which is functioning without legislative approval either at the centre or in the states and has signed contracts with companies that work with Intelligence agencies. The word Aadhaar yields 30 results. The acronym UIDAI provides 38 results. The word “biometric” yields 4,170 results. Search for “Accenture”, a US company involved in the implementation of UID/Aadhaar project yields 1,741 results on Wikileaks site. He reportedly admitted that UID/Aadhaar will give a US$60 billion opportunity for NASDAQ companies to harvest. At the Nasscom conclave in 2010 he reportedly told the audience that it was an opportunity worth Rs 40, 000 crore for Indian companies.

A task force for preparation of Policy Document on Identity and Access Management under the National e-Governance Programme (NeGP) was constituted by Office Memorandum dated October 31, 2006, by the central government, which was supposed to submit its report by December 25, 2006. Coincidentally, the Processes Committee of the Planning Commission, which was set up in July 2006, commissioned the task of preparing “Strategic Vision: Unique Identification of Residents” to IT giant Wipro during the same period. The task force submitted version 7 of its 65-page long report in April 2007. This report states: “The Identity Information is stored by multiple agencies in multiple documents like ration card, driving licence, passport, voter’s card, birth certificate, etc. The purpose of the Project Unique ID (UID), initiated by the Planning Commission, is to create a central database of resident information and assign a Unique Identification Number to each such resident (citizens and persons of Indian origin) in the country. The appropriate Identity Aggregations and Synchronisation should be used to integrate systems to share their identity information.” The report also revealed that the “National UID Project has been initiated with Voter ID Numbers and BPL households in the first instance.” It is evident that long before the arrival of Nilekani in July 2009 as Chairman of the UIDAI, the UID/Aadhaar project was already unfolding. He just came, and the credit for the UIDAI and UID/Aadhaar was imposed on him.

He was given ID Limelight Award at the ID WORLD International Congress, 2010 in Milan, Italy on November 16, 2010 during the Conference held in Milan from November 16 to 18. Besides AB Notes, the key sponsor of the ID Congress included Safran Morpho (Safran group), a French multinational corporation specializing in ID credentials solutions incorporating biometrics application in passports, visas, ID documents, health and social benefits, elections, etc. Its subsidiary, Sagem Morpho Security Pvt. Ltd has been awarded contract for the purchase of Biometric Authentication Devices on February 2, 2011 by the UIDAI.

Coincidentally, this Global Summit on Automatic Identification in 2009 had awarded Tariq Malik, Deputy Chairman of Islamabad based National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) too for implementing UID like project in Pakistan since 2000. Malik is currently the chairman of NADRA since July 11, 2012. NADRA was established as National Database Organization (NDO), an attached department under the Ministry of Interior in 1998. On 10 March, 2000, NDO & Directorate General of Registration (DGR) merged to form NADRA, an independent corporate body with requisite autonomy to operate independently and facilitate good governance. With the mandate of developing a system for re-registering 150 million citizens, NADRA launched the Multi-Biometric National Identity Card project developed in conformance with international security documentation issuance practices in the year 2000.

Member of the Reserve Bank of India’s Advisory Group on Corporate Governance

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s digital advisor after demonetization

Head of Technology Advisory Group on Unique Projects (TAGUP) that proposes “private company with public purpose” and with “profit making as the motive but not profit maximising”

Head of Committee on Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) technology for use on National Highways that proposes Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).

Head of Inter-ministerial task force to streamline the subsidy distribution mechanism

Head of Government of India’s IT Task Force for Power Sector

Member of National Knowledge Commission

Member of Review Committee of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission

Member of National Advisory Group on e-Governance

Member of Subcommittee of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) that dealt with issues related to insider trading

Member of Reserve Bank of India’s Advisory Group on corporate governance

Member of Prime Minister’s National Council on Skill Development

Member of Prime Minister headed National Committee on Direct Cash Transfers

Invitee to the Cabinet Committee on UID related matters

Invitee to Group of Ministers (GoM) regarding Issue of Resident Identity Cards under NPR Scheme

Member of the board of governors of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)

Donor of The Giving Pledge campaign of philanthropic billionaires initiated by Bill Gates

Member of the Board of Governors of IIT Bombay

Donor for rebuilding the hostel campus of IIT Bombay

Awarded ‘Distinguished Alumnus’ by IIT Bombay in 2001

Serves on London Business School’s Asia Pacific Regional Advisory Board

Fortune Magazine conferred him with “Asia’s Businessman of the year 2003”

Founder of the Indian Institute for Human Settlements

Author of ‘Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation’ and co- author of Rebooting India: Realizing a Billion Aspirations

Awarded the distinguished ‘Joseph Schumpeter prize’ for his innovative services in economy, economic sciences and politics in 2005

In 2006, Forbes Asia named him ‘Businessman of the Year’

In 2006, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India

In 2006, he became one of the youngest entrepreneurs to join 20 global leaders on the World Economic Forum (WEF) Foundation Board

In 2009, he was listed among the Time 100 list of ‘World’s Most Influential People’ by the Time magazine

In 2009, he became the first Indian to be honored with the prestigious ‘Legend in Leadership Award’ by the Yale University. Coincidentally, he has set up a chair in Yale for Indian and South Asian Studies, of which the first person to hold the chair was designated in 2009!

Foreign Policy magazine listed him as one of the Top 100 Global thinkers in 2010

In 2011, he was conferred NDTV Indian of the Year’s ‘Transformational Idea of the Year Award’

In 2011, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Earlier had received his Bachelor’s degree from IIT, Bombay in Electrical Engineering.

Awarded Padma Bhushan in 2006

Co- founder of NASSCOM

Co- founder of the Bangalore chapter of TIE (The Indus Entrepreneurs)

Biggest investor in lunar firm TeamIndus, which is building a spacecraft to land on the moon

Co-founded Infosys Limited in 1981

Served as its Chief Executive Officer from 2002 to June 22, 2007 and as Managing Director until June 21, 2007 of Infosys. He served as the Chairman of Management Council, President, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Banking Business Unit at Infosys. He served as Co-Chairman of Infosys Limited from June 22, 2007 to July 9, 2009. He was brought back in 2017. His critics say he and his partners at Infosys made big money doing what they call in USA Body shopping, 4 Indians for the Price of one American worker. Infosys is not even capable of creating any worthwhile software.

Won The Economist Social & Economic Innovation Award for his leadership of India’s Unique Identification initiative (Aadhaar)

In 2017, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from E & Y. CNBC- TV 18 conferred India Business leader award for outstanding contributor to the Indian Economy-2017 and he also received the 22nd Nikkei Asia Prize for Economic & Business Innovation 2017.